"Are you ready?" Rory asked the woman next to him, her smile contagious as he felt his lips tugging upward.

"I should be asking you that," Zoey said with a wink as he rolled his eyes in response.

"I've been working on a little something, I'll be fine."

"Alright, if this big ape guy is as much of a bastard as you suggested, this won't be an easy fight."

Rory bowed his head in acknowledgment. The four-armed ape was a mid-tier seven monster. While it wasn't an Alpha Variant, it was far from a pushover variety by any means. As they were both level seventy-one, it was going to be far from an easy fight.

"And you?" Rory turned to the serpent trailing a few feet behind them.

"I shall handle myself."

Like them, Eia was level seventy-one, and while usually Rory felt confident in her ability to take care of herself, the ape they were looking to confront had given him a thrashing with little effort. It was only through a surprise hit that Rory had managed to find his chance to escape.

"Alright, we're here," Rory said as they finally reached the end of the tunnel, overlooking a large crater filled with flaming snow and pine trees.

"Oh, you weren't kidding," Zoey said as she took in the scene before her. "The snow really is on fire."

"Yes, and I should remind you that- oh, never mind, she left," Rory sighed as Zoey proceeded to slide her way down the crater wall.

"Don't blame me if its comfortable down there," Rory muttered as he slid down the side, quickly catching up. As she reached the bottom, the woman took one glance at the snow before stepping directly atop it.

"Wait, I told you not to- huh?" Rory frowned as he saw Zoey standing there, completely unfazed. Unlike Rory's method for rendering the strange phenomenon inert, Zoey seemed to ignore it outright.

"No offense, Builder Boy-"

"Yeah, no, already don't like that nickname."

"-but you're a little too confident that only you can figure something out."

"Meaning?' Rory said, frowning.

"You mentioned this inversion effect of this Trial, and how it was something people at our tier wouldn't be able to figure out. Newsflash, I've been experiencing inversion concepts for over a decade, every single time I fight. It doesn't take much to nullify such a weak application."

"Right," Rory's frown deepened. He had assumed that the idea of undoing the inversion effect of the Trial was impossible for a tier seven. Clearly, he had been looking at things through his lens far too much, taking his own experiences as verbatim law.

I'll try to keep that in mind for the future.

"What about, oh, right," Rory sighed as he glanced at Eia, whose scales were drinking in the energy. "Got it."

At the very least, he wouldn't have to waste time coaching them through the process of externalizing their inner sense of self as a shielding aura.

"Some monsters should show up shortly, but as long as you can bypass their natural immunity to non-inverted attacks, they're extremely easy to handle.

As if to prove his point, monsters suddenly began to spill out from the forest. It was unfortunate for them, as within seconds they had been diced up and handled like little more than a quick chore to be taken care of.

"Easy enough," Zoey said, brandishing her own spear. Unlike what most fiction would have people believe, swords were far from the easiest weapon to hand to a novice; spears, instead, were the champion of the unpracticed.

Also, making her a generic spear was a lot faster than forging an entire sword or other weapon.

Armed with a shield and spear, the woman resembled a Roman soldier, albeit without the armored skirt.

Having dealt with the small flock of monsters that hadn't had time to add to their pack, the three of them proceeded deeper into the crater, untouched by anything else during their short journey. Within minutes, they found themselves pulling up to a clearing in the center of the crater.

"Big fellow," Zoey leaned in, whispering under her breath.

"Yeah," Rory agreed. The oversized four-armed ape was posted up as if waiting for them, even its missing arm had regrown.

"We're doing this as we planned out," Rory said before the woman could do something stupid like charge in.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm not some battle maniac. I can be patient."

"Good," Rory sighed. "Remember, after it takes enough damage, it's going to enrage. From there…. Well, we will play it by ear."

"Great plan," Zoey snorted as her shield snapped forward as she approached the giant ape, holding the shield with her dominant arm and spear in her opposite hand.

Eia followed Zoey, glancing back at Rory a single time, her serpentine gaze saying more than enough about her feelings on working with the Vanguard.

"Go." Rory waved at Eia, mouthing the word silently as the serpent rolled her eyes and trailed in Zoey's shadow.

Their part of the plan was simple. Zoey would be the tank that didn't let the oversized ape get past her. Eia would harass the larger and more dangerous monster with well-timed attacks of opportunity, her aural toxin a constant nuisance.

As for Rory? He would be the big guns.

It's going to work. Definitely. One hundred percent. I've tested it enough times that I know it will work.

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Taking a deep breath, Rory watched for a few moments as the battle began between the Vanguard and the Great Ape of a Hundred Throes. Whereas even its regular strikes had been enough to treat Rory like a ping-pong ball, when they made contact with Zoey's raised shield, at best, they shoved her back several feet. Each hit was visibly straining the woman, but she wasn't treated like a ragdoll as Rory had been.

Alright, time to play my part.

With one more deep breath, Rory grabbed the wrist of his right arm, raising it as he closed his eyes, envisioning his will.

Usually, when using magic, one had to imagine and envision the 'spell' they were about to use, understanding their intent as they acted. Projection magic streamlined the process, accelerating what would typically be a much slower process for someone like Rory in his early years.

One thing that had always been true, though, was that performing magic with and without a bound circle was two entirely different beasts, able to draw far more power when utilizing a bound circle. The issue was that bound circles were a hassle to draw out, and enemies could avoid them wherever they were drawn.

Of course, that's how it had been.

Still holding his wrist, the air in front of him suddenly shimmered as a golden circle flared to life, glowing as if painted upon the air itself. As the circle rotated, symbols began to flare into existence around it, a smile cracking on Rory's face.

It's working!

There was no reason it shouldn't have worked; Rory had tested his idea several times already, but there was always that random chance something went haywire.

As for what it was that Rory was doing? That answer was simple; he was projecting the bound circle itself.

I don't know why I never thought of this.

It wasn't technically a bound circle, instead more of a generic 'magic circle.' Still, it served a similar purpose, providing direction and guidance to magic that was previously difficult to execute on the fly.

And now, if I combine it with my regular projections.

The air all around and behind Rory began to shimmer as more and more magic circles appeared, simple golden rings that knives began to seamlessly slide out from as if they were portals to another dimension.

Hah!

Giddy, Rory locked onto the ape as it battled the stalwart Vanguard. As if sensing something amiss, the ape looked toward Rory. For a moment, the ape attempted to bound toward him, only to be thwarted as Zoey constantly kept herself in front of the ape, using some skill that seemed to keep her constantly in front of the ape.

Grinning like a madman, the knives shot forward, each one faster than a modern bullet. It was as if Rory was firing away with an automatic machine gun filled with tracer rounds, the golden knives flipping end over end with shocking speed. The difference between these versions of his projected knives and his past work was slight, but with the aid of the magic circles, each knife was made formed from a higher stage of pneuma, pound for pound denser and more energetic. It wasn't as if they were suddenly way more powerful; the difference was only maybe twenty or thirty percent per knife, but when hundreds of knives were flying through the air, that added up fast.

Which was made clear as the ape was forced back, the knives slamming into its thick hide before exploding with a cacophony of thrumps, the explosions muted compared to a Hollywood-style explosive.

So far, so good.

It was odd to play the role of caster when he'd spent years often being the primary frontline offense. In fairness, the only times he fought in a group had been with Apostolos, and those times had grown rare over the years, so he hadn't had much to compare with.

Still.

From Rory's perspective, all he was doing was constantly funneling, channeling, and shaping the pneuma through his projections, augmented by the use of his genesis-bound ring and the newly minted magic circles.

Still doesn't fix the problem of it not being a me-specific ability.

When Rory had come up with the thought of magic circles incorporated directly into his magic, it was once more something that was not even remotely unique to himself, much like projections. The main thing Rory had going for him was that, as the progenitor of such concepts, he had more experience than anyone else in that department. Still, he could see a future where those seeking to become magic casters or users would take the concept of magic circles and utilize them as the very cornerstone, square one, before even attempting further magic, just from how effective they were proving to be for essentially no added cost other than requiring extra practice.

Whatever. Maybe I'm too caught up in the idea of having something only I can do. Does it matter if I don't have anything truly unique, if I'm the best at it?

It was perhaps a bit more boisterous of a thought than Rory typically entertained, but there was some truth to it. His sample size wasn't large, yet even in Ehkorrus, he had seen how easy it was to rely on given skills and take a measured, if not outright lazy, approach to life.

"Focus, Rory," Rory snapped at himself.

Now isn't the time to be waxing all poetic.

Unable to maneuver past the wall that was Zoey, under constant bombardment from the golden knives, and occasionally being injected by aural toxin as Eia struck from some shadows only to vanish a moment later, the ape was beginning to look rather annoyed.

Enraged, one might even say.

Working as a three-man team, handling the first 'phase' had been a breeze. Yet even as Rory watched, the ape began to glow with soft, green hues, beating its chest as cyclone-force winds formed from similar, green-colored wind streams whipped up.

And now, uncharted territory.

As soon as the ape had been enraged last time, Rory had been forced to flee. Now, they were looking to go the distance.

Meaning it's also time to start upping the firepower.

His knives were easy and reliable, yet they lacked the finishing power that was going to be needed for the oversized ape, if Rory had to take a guess, being level seventy-five and the boss of a Trial.

Glowing green, when its fists struck Zoey's shield, no longer was she only pushed back a few feet; now she was sent sliding back a dozen feet at a time, the impacts rattling through her entire body.

The knives Rory had been constantly projecting and bombarding the ape with vanished, as the central magic circle suddenly doubled in size.

As it did, new gates opened behind Rory, only a third of the prior number that had been constantly projecting the golden knives. What appeared from these gates was significantly more dangerous, though. From each gate, what looked like a simplified version of his banner spear appeared, shooting through the air after hovering for a brief moment. The banner, lacking the illusion powers of the real banner, followed the spears like the trail of a comet before detonating like streamlined missiles.

So far, so good…. And, yep, there it is, I spoke too soon.

While Zoey likely wasn't having nearly as much fun as Rory was, his enjoyment in watching his lances bloody the oversized monster ape, before exploding a moment after, was dashed as the same green winds whirled up, forming into what looked like a colony of streamers.

Nope, not streamers.

"Ick," Rory said, taking in the new addition. "Eels."

Because, of course, that made sense.

After all, why wouldn't a giant, oversized wind conjuring ape conjure a colony of wind eels?

Questions later.

Attempting to continue his bombardment from afar, Rory grimaced as the lances were met with resistance; the eels would flash through the air, intercept his projected improvised missiles, and tear them apart.

You know, I'd rather not see what they could do to a person.

Of course, like all flags in a story, that was the moment several of the eels snapped to face his direction, beady little eyes staring him down.

"Oh, son of a bitch. I never learn."

Swimming through the air with incredible speed, the eels began to turn the tide, attempting to latch down on Rory and forcing him to take evasive measures. Forced to evade as he was, his bombardment slowed, giving the ape further breathing room to hammer away at Zoey, whose shield was showing severe signs of warping.

Not great.

Rory saw as Eia appeared for a moment, using one of her skills and flaring her aura in an attempt to dissolve the wind-shaped eels. Still, the difference between her and the ape projecting them was too much, and she only managed to lessen their physical forms until she began to exhaust herself first. It had been a rather valiant effort, but the difference between Eia, a strong low-tier-seven monster, and the ape, a mid-tier-seven Trial boss, was too much of a gulf for nothing more than attitude and gumption to overcome.

Internally sighing, Rory could only mentally shake his head.

Of course, it wasn't going to be that easy.

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